Miyagi Raw Oysters and Jumbo Shrimp Louie Salad at Woody's in the Monterey-Salinas (California) Airport by Ruth Paget

Miyagi Raw Oysters and Jumbo Shrimp Louie Salad at Woody’s in the Monterey-Salinas Airport (California) by Ruth Paget 

My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I went to Woody’s at the Monterey-Salinas (California) Airport so Florence could order the Friday night special prime rib ($48) while Laurent and I ordered California-sourced Pacific winter meals. 

Laurent and I started with the Mayagi raw oysters that were on special while Florence ordered clam chowder (also a Pacific winter stand-by dish). Miyagi oysters originally came from Japan, but are now farmed in California by places like the Bodega Bay Oyster Company in Petaluma, California. 

The Miyagi oysters were about two-inches long and deep, making them have the same amount of meat as longer oysters with a little less water. They tasted salty and had a refreshing cucumber flavor that was enhanced by the chili sauce on the side that resembled a pico de gallo sauce made with the addition of minced cucumber. The oysters were a delicious start to our chilly night at the airport meal. 

Laurent ordered the reliably delicious fish and chips made with cod as his main dish while I ordered the jumbo shrimp Louie salad, which is probably sourced by Swank Farms in nearby San Benito County while Moss Landing up Highway toward San Francisco might have provided the pudgy jumbo shrimp. 

The shrimp Louie salad sits on a mounded bed of radicchio red leaf salad and baby romaine leaves. (This is already a great start.) Located on top of the mounded lettuce leaves are small mounds of the following items:

-large, thin slices of magenta-colored sugar beets 

-3 large, diagonal slices of cucumber 

-thick, slices of juicy red tomato 

-a generous helping of pickled, red onions 

-chunks of greenish-yellow fresh avocado 

-1 whole, sliced organic egg 

-6 pudgy, boiled jumbo shrimp with the tail shell left on for flavor while boiling, which you remove before eating. 

I love everything in this salad, which I coated with the Louie dressing. Woody’s dressings and sauces are made in-house, so the contents of the dressing are secret. 

However, I looked up Louie dressing in AI mode on Google and read that Louie dressing usually has a mayonnaise and chili base with the addition of lemon juice, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, and minced capers. The piquant dressing at Woody’s certainly tasted like this, which I liked very much.

My meal made me feel in robust health due to the fresh, organic ingredients, especially the magnesium in the oysters and shrimp. Magnesium supports muscle, nerve, and heart health, so if you have no dietary or religious restrictions about eating shellfish, this meal is pretty healthy. 

Woody’s at the Monterey-Salinas Airport has something for everyone it seems, especially for diners who would like to try a Monterey shellfish winter meal at a moderate price. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games

Salinas, California Author Sarah Fajardo Wins Award reposted by Ruth Paget

The California’s article about Salinas, California educated author Sarah Fsjardo winning the Robert F. Robert Informational Book Award is very interesting!

I have reposted a link to the article below:

https://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/local/2026/02/20/award-winning-author-credits-salinas-school-for-sparking-writing-dream/88611352007/

A book to read before your next trip to the supermarket or farmers’ market.

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games

Horton Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget by Ruth Paget

Horton Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget by Ruth Paget 

Ruth and Florence Paget are related to the Horton family through their ancestor George Robert Carpenter. 

G1 refers to Generation 1 and so on. 

Mother Lines 

G1 – Florence Paget 

G2 – Ruth Pennington (Married Name: Paget) 

G3 – Beatrice May Sawle (Married Name: Pennington)

G4 – Daisy May Bardsley (Married Name: Sawle) 

-daughter of Edward Charles Bardsley and Etta Pearl Carpenter 

G5 – Etta Pearl Carpenter 

-daughter of George Robert Carpenter and Phoebe Ann Throop 

G6 – George Robert Carpenter 

-son of Benjamin Carpenter and Elizabeth Eaker 

G7 – Benjamin Carpenter 

-son of Barnard Carpenter and Phoebe Avery

G8 – Barnard Carpenter 

-son of John Charles Carpenter and Ruth Horton 

G9 – Ruth Horton 

-daughter of David Horton, Sr. and Judith Chase 

Born: November 11, 1734 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Plymouth Colony, British Colonial America 

Died: October 4, 1777 in Great Nine Partners, Dutchess, New York 

G10 – David Horton, Sr. 

-son of Thomas Horton, III and Hannah Garnsey 

Born: October 8, 1701 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Plymouth Colony, British Colonial America 

Died: September 1770 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Plymouth Colony, British Colonial America 

G11 – Thomas Horton, III 

-son of Thomas Horton, Jr and Sarah Harmon 

Born: October 3, 1677 in Milton, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America 

Died: March 1746 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Plymouth Colony, British Colonial America 

G12 – Thomas Horton, Jr 

-son of Thomas Horton, Sr and Mary Eddy 

Born: 1638 in England 

Died: March 8, 1716 in Rehoboth, Bristol, Plymouth Colony, British Colonial America 

G13 – Thomas Horton -son of Joseph Horton and Mary (last name unknown at this time) 

Born: 1602 in Mowsley, Leicestershire, England 

Died: December 24, 1640 in Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America 

G14 – Joseph Horton 

-son of William Horton and Elizabeth Hansen 

Born: 1578 in Mowsley, Leicestershire, England 

Died: 1640 in Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America

Imigrant to Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America 

Occupation listed as baker. 

G15 – William Horton 

-parents unknown at this time 

Born: 1550 in Mowsley, Leicestershire, England 

Married: Elizabeth Hansen in 1575

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games

German-style Kölsch Beer and a Loaded BLT at Alvarado Street Brewery Taproom in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

German-style Kölsch Beer and a Loaded BLT at Alvarado Street Brewery Taproom in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

Chilly, rainy weather in February 2026 set the scene fro my family’s outing to the Alvarado Street Brewery Taproom in Salinas, California where I was able to relive happy memories from the time I lived in Stuttgart, Germany with my husband Laurent. 

The Alvarado Street Brewery Taprooms offers American, English, and German beers on its extensive beer menu. Laurent and our daughter Florence Paget ordered German pilsners while I opted for the non-alcoholic kölsch beer. Our dinner outing was quickly becoming a brewpub evening. 

Pilsner lagers originally come from Pilsen, Czech Republic, but the Germans have adopted the style as well. Lagers are cold fermented beers. 

Kölsch beer from Cologne, Germany is a hybrid beer. It starts out as a warm fermented yeast, but is aged like a cold-fermented lager. The end result is a beer with fruity flavor, which I like very much. Alvarado Street Brewery serves this beer in the tall, thin glass called a stange like the ones in Cologne as well. 

Kölsch beer has been brewed since 874 AD in Cologne, a northern German city on the Rhine River, according to the Oxford Companion to Beer edited by Garrett Oliver. It is only brewed in the Cologne area and has a legally protected status, which I refer to the kölsch beer at Alvarado Street Brewery Taproom as German style kölsch. 

It is easy to have a German brew pub experience at Alvarado Street Brewery thanks to its updated classic bar menu that reflects how brewing and baking are intertwined industries with a history that includes Germany but stretches back to ancient Sumeria and Egypt. 

You can even see beer and bread making and wine cultivation on the Mastaba Tomb of Perneb (ca. 2881 – 2323 Bc) a 4,500 year old structure at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Brewing and baking use both yeast and grain (usually barley and sometimes wheat in Germany). 

Women originally took care of both duties. Later, men took over these roles in breweries and monasteries. Bread products can be made from the spent grain used to brew beer. 

All of the main menu items at Alvarado Street Brewery Taproom can use spent grain in some form with the following items: 

-pretzels served with warm beer cheese 

-hamburgers – the buns on the burger can be made with spent grain for this sandwich that originally hails from Hamburg, Germany 

-BLT sandwich (Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich) and spicy chicken sandwich – the bread for these sandwiches can be made with spent grain 

-arugula salad – the lettuce is obviously produce, but you can make croutons with bread made with spent grain 

-pizza – Alvarado Street Brewery Taprooms serves Italian pizzas, but there is a Franco-German pizza from Strasbourg, France called flammekueche (flammeküchen) made with chopped slab bacon, thinly sliced onions, and a sour cream-like sauce that can be made with dough using spent grain as well.   You can buy flammekueche pizza frozen in Germany and France.

Spent grain tastes similar to regular grain but develops a darker color when baked and adds a huge cost savings for brew pubs. These savings allow brew pubs to spend money on fine, white cake flour for tarts like the Bartlett Pear Tart at Alvarado Street Brewery Taproom. 

With this historical background in mind, my family thoroughly enjoyed our orders of a smashburger for Laurent, a BLT sandwich with mozzarella cheese and pesto aioli garlic mayonnaise, and a spicy chicken sandwich for Florence seasoned with Hungarian paprika and cayenne. My BLT had added mozzarella cheese for a calcium and protein boost. 

Pub food made with fresh, organic ingredients is hard to beat. It also arrives quickly, and hot at Alvarado Street Brewery Taproom in Salinas, California, which makes a visit there relaxing and pleasant. 

The Alvarado Street Brewery is located at the intersection of Alvarado and Main Streets in Salinas with parking behind the taproom, down Main Street by the Steinbeck Center, and some street parking in legally marked spots. 

Note: For readers interested in Cologne, Germany, I haves listed a link below to my blog about visiting this city and its cathedral, which is a major German pilgrimage site: 

Cologne, Germany - Holy City on the Rhine

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games

Avery Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget by Ruth Paget

Avery Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget by Ruth Paget 

Ruth and Florence Paget are related to the Avery family through their ancestor George Robert Carpenter. 

G1 refers to Generation 1 and so on. 

Mother Lines 

G1 – Florence Paget 

G2 – Ruth Pennington (Married Name: Paget) 

G3 – Beatrice May Sawle (Married Name: Pennington) 

G4 – Daisy May Bardsley (Married Name: Sawle) 

-daughter of Edward Charles Bardsley and Etta Pearl Carpenter 

G5 – Etta Pearl Carpenter 

 -daughter of George Robert Carpenter and Phoebe Throop 

G6 – George Robert Carpenter 

-son of Benjamin Carpenter and Elizabeth Eaker 

G7 – Benjamin Carpenter 

-son of Barnard Carpenter and Phoebe Avery 

G8 – Phoebe (Phebe) Avery

 -parents unknown at this time 

Born: November 29, 1770 in Dutchess, New York, US 

 Died: 1802 in US Married: March 6, 1788 in Saratoga, US to Barnard Carpenter 

(Ruth Paget Note: Saratoga probably refers to Saratoga Springs, New York) 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games

Eaker Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget by Ruth Paget

Eaker (Variant Spellings – Ecker, Acker) Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget by Ruth Paget 

Ruth and Florence Paget are related to the Eaker family through their ancestor George Robert Carpenter. 

G1 refers to Generation 1 and so on. 

Mother Lines 

G1 – Florence Paget 

G2 – Ruth Paget (Married Name: Paget) 

G3 – Beatrice May Sawle (Married Name: Pennington) 

G4 – Daisy May Bardsley (Married Name: Sawle) 

-daughter of Edward Charles Bardsley and Etta Pearl Carpenter 

G5 – Etta Pearl Carpenter

-daughter of George Robert Carpenter and Phoebe Ann Throop

G6 – George Robert Carpenter 

-son of Benjamin Carpenter and Elizabeth (Elisabeth) Eaker 

G7 – Elizabeth (Elisabeth) Eaker 

-daughter of Ludawick Ecker and Elisabeth Bellinger 

Born: June 16, 1813 in Oppenheim, Montgomery, New York, US 

Died: September 10, 1902 in Black Earth, Dane, Wisconsin and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Black Earth, Dane, Wisconsin 

G8 – Ludawick Ecker 

-son of William Ecker and Esther Schneider 

Born: About 1783 in Saint Johnsville, New York 

Died: Death date unknown at this time 

Married: Elisabeth Bellinger on February 24, 1811 in Fort Plain, Minden, Montgomery, New York 

Lived in Boonville, Boonville, Oneida, New York in 1850. 

G9 – William (Wilhelm) Ecker

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games

Crepes for Fat Tuesday by Ruth Paget

Crepes for Fat Tuesday by Ruth Paget

Tomorrow is Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, 47 days before Easter.  Lent, the period of fasting, begins on Wednesday, the day after Mardi Gras..

Our family celebrates this holiday with crepes made with extra organic eggs, Guerande flour de sel salt, and cold press extra virgin olive oil.

I have included links for our family’s California Crepe Recipe and the crepe making technique my husband Laurent uses to make crepes in an online exhibit devoted tobChandeleur;

California Crepes Recipe

Crepe Making Technique Online Exhibit

Bonne Fete!

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games